south bank of the thames amid an immense crowd of spectators who have gathered to watch their seat of government consumed by a wall of flames. that combination of observation tempered with passionate artistry flowered again in turner's 1839 the fighting "temeraire" tugged to her last berth to be broken up, many wept to see the temeraire, a ship that had stood with nelson at the battle of trafalgar, at the mercy of a steam driven tug dragging it to the scrap yard. turner would never lend or sell the picture, which he called "my darling." turner may have regretted the passing of that era but he was fascinated by the steam age. keelmen heaving in coals by moonlight was painted for an industrialist. but it can also be seen as an elegy for the honest and hard working labor that fed the engines of the steam-driven empire. it was praised for its extraordinary light-- described by one observer as "neither night nor day." throughout the 1830s and into the 1840s, turner produced works with expressive brushwork and an indistinctness that baffled critics. (reader) "to speak of these works as pictures, would